Tom Harwood Explained

Tom Harwood
Birth Name:Thomas Hedley Fairfax Harwood
Birth Date:26 August 1996
Birth Place:Cambridge, England
Alma Mater:St Mary's College, Durham University (BA)
Occupation:Journalist, political commentator

Thomas Hedley Fairfax Harwood (born 26 August 1996) is a British journalist, political commentator and television show host. He became the deputy political editor of GB News in March 2023. Harwood previously worked as a reporter for the right-wing political news website Guido Fawkes between 2018 and 2021, and was a regular contributor to The Daily Telegraph, writing online columns from 2019 to 2021.

Early life and education

Harwood was born on 26 August 1996.[1] [2] He grew up in Cambridge, England.[3] Harwood attended The Perse School, a private school in the city.[4]

He studied politics at Durham University, where he was elected as president of its debating society, the Durham Union.[5] Harwood ran a satirical campaign to become a National Union of Students (NUS) delegate, criticising the organisation with viral videos and satirical pledges such as using its funds to build a Death Star, and defeating the terrorist group ISIS with a boycott.[6] He was elected in what The Times newspaper described as "a landslide victory" that gained national attention in December 2016.[7] After his election, he appeared on the BBC's Daily Politics show.[8]

Harwood later ran for the presidency of the NUS in 2017 with a similar campaign and was endorsed by the University of Manchester Students' Union.[9] [10] The union was the only one to hold a primary election in which students could directly vote for their candidate.[11] Their vote mandated their delegates to vote for him in the NUS presidential election.[10] He finished a distant third in the election with 35 votes out of the 1,200 NUS delegates.[4] In the following year, Harwood appeared on the BBC's Daily Politics show again due to another satirical campaign to lower the voting age to 12.[12]

Career

While at university, Harwood also became the national chair of pro-Brexit campaign group Students for Britain, an arm of the official Brexit campaign organisation Vote Leave.[13] [14] In 2017, he worked for the American libertarian organisation Students for Liberty.[15] He was a Conservative Party candidate for the East Chesterton ward in the 2018 Cambridge City Council election. In the election, the two Labour candidates were elected.[16] Harwood received 336 votes, and finished in 6th place.[17] Harwood became a reporter for the right-wing political news website Guido Fawkes in July 2018.[18] [19]

Harwood was listed in talk radio station LBC's list of top 100 most influential Conservatives of 2019.[20] Harwood was briefly a member of Turning Point UK, an offshoot of the US right-wing student organisation Turning Point USA,[21] [22] distancing himself from the group days after it launched, saying that he did not realise its political positions would be aligned with those of the US organisation, which he opposes.[23] [24] He contributed opinion pieces to The Telegraph between 2019 and 2021.[25] In 2019, at the age of 22, he became the youngest panellist to appear on a regular edition of the topical debate programme BBC Question Time.[26] [27]

In 2021, Harwood joined GB News as its political correspondent.[28] In August 2021 it was announced that he would host a new programme on the channel, The Briefing: AM with Tom Harwood.[29] Harwood was promoted to deputy political editor of GB News in March 2023.[30]

External links

Notes and References

  1. tomhfh. Harwood. Tom. 1258301207443111938. lots of papers erroneously reporting Nadia Whittome is 24. As far as I can make out she was born in August 1996, making her 23.. 7 May 2020. 14 February 2022.
  2. tomhfh. Harwood. Tom. 7 May 2020. 1258301453816541185. yup, 29 August 1996. Three days younger than me.. 14 February 2022.
  3. News: Press Association . 18 February 2021 . GB News announces signings to political reporting team . Evening Express . Aberdeen . 21 February 2021.
  4. Web site: Gimson. Andrew. Sending up the Left is not enough. But it's certainly a start – and Tom Harwood is doing it effectively . ConservativeHome. 15 December 2017 . 4 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191007115331/https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2017/12/sending-up-the-left-is-not-enough-but-its-certainly-a-start-and-tom-harwood-is-doing-it-effectively.html. 7 October 2019. live.
  5. Web site: The Durham Union Michaelmas 2018. Durham Union Society. 2018. 20 October 2019. 12. https://web.archive.org/web/20191020094414/http://dus.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Michaelmas-Term-Card.pdf. 20 October 2019. live.
  6. News: Gibbons . Amy . Durham student promises to 'defeat Isis' and build a 217ft statue of the NUS president . 6 December 2016 . The Independent . 4 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191007115350/https://www.independent.co.uk/student/study-abroad/news/durham-student-union-candidate-tom-harwood-pledges-to-defeat-isis-and-build-217-ft-statue-of-nus-a7459416.html . 7 October 2019 . live.
  7. News: Burgess . Kaya . Manifesto of mockery wins student election . 17 December 2016 . 12 January 2020 . The Times . https://web.archive.org/web/20200112033448/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/manifesto-of-mockery-wins-student-election-90ptcggxs . 12 January 2020 . live . subscription.
  8. News: NUS 'does not represent students any more' . BBC News . 19 December 2016 . 4 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180914133530/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-38370145/tom-harwood-elected-as-national-union-of-students-delegate . 14 September 2018 . live.
  9. News: Diver . Tony . NUS Presidential candidate claims the far left have hijacked the student organisation . 13 March 2017 . The Independent . 4 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170515190901/http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/nus-president-candidate-tom-harwood-far-left-hijack-student-national-union-malia-bouattia-a7628006.html . 15 May 2017 . live.
  10. Sterne . Jennifer . University of Manchester students back Tom Harwood for NUS President . 18 January 2020 . . 25 April 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200118010418/https://mancunion.com/2017/04/25/university-of-manchester-students-back-tom-harwood-for-nus-president/ . 18 January 2020 . live.
  11. News: Pells . Rachael . Who is challenging the controversial NUS President Malia Bouattia? A look at the 2017 candidates. 22 January 2020. The Independent. 25 April 2017.
  12. News: Vote for 12 year-olds: Harwood and Preston on child suffrage . 26 February 2018 . BBC News . 3 November 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215014253/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-43202333/vote-for-12-year-olds-harwood-and-preston-on-child-suffrage . 15 February 2019 . live.
  13. News: In or out? Students use condoms to contemplate Brexit. The Guardian. 10 March 2016. 19 October 2019. Smith. Dominic. https://web.archive.org/web/20190413060824/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/10/in-or-out-students-use-condoms-to-contemplate-brexit-eu-referendum. 13 April 2019. live.
  14. News: Student Tory groups swell in backlash at Left-wing activists. The Telegraph. 24 April 2017. Yorke. Harry. Mintz. Luke. Peters. Charlie. 19 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180822215353/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/22/student-tory-groups-swell-backlash-left-wing-activists/. 22 August 2018.
  15. Web site: The UK's dangerous attempt at internet censorship.. Harwood. Tom. 25 July 2017. 19 October 2019. Students for Liberty. https://web.archive.org/web/20191019220002/https://www.studentsforliberty.org/2017/07/25/uks-dangerous-attempt-internet-censorship/. 19 October 2019. live.
  16. News: Local elections 2018 – as it happened. Varsity. Gutteridge. Matt. Clynch. Harry. Mochar. Anna. 3 May 2018. 24 December 2019.
  17. Web site: Election results for East Chesterton. Cambridge City Council. 3 May 2018. 21 October 2019.
  18. News: Guido Fawkes hires young Vote Leave talent and looks to boost video output on political blog site. Press Gazette. 26 July 2018. Mayhew. Freddie. 19 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190922131643/https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/guido-fawkes-hires-young-vote-leave-talent-as-editor-looks-to-ratchet-up-video-output-on-political-blog-site/. 22 September 2019. live.
  19. Web site: Live with Littlewood: Kate Andrews, Sam Bowman, Tom Harwood and more. Institute of Economic Affairs. 28 August 2020.
  20. Web site: The Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2019. LBC. 30 September 2019. 13 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191013160836/https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/parties/conservatives/the-top-100-most-influential-conservatives-of-2019/. 13 October 2019. live.
  21. News: Right-wing student leader Charlie Kirk will tour UK universities. The Times. 6 February 2019. 20 October 2019. Brown. David. https://web.archive.org/web/20191020094754/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/right-wing-student-leader-charlie-kirk-will-tour-uk-universities-h223d32rd. 20 October 2019. live. subscription.
  22. News: Turning Point UK: Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tory MPs support new branch of 'sinister' right-wing US group. The Independent. 4 February 2019. 20 October 2019. Dearden. Lizzie. https://web.archive.org/web/20190817003738/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/turning-point-uk-jacob-rees-mogg-conservative-right-wing-group-launch-tory-a8762351.html. 17 August 2019. live.
  23. Web site: Days After Its Disastrous British Launch, Turning Point Has Already Lost One Of Its Star Recruits. BuzzFeed. 8 February 2019. 20 October 2019. Spence. Alex. Di Stefano. Mark. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012070600/https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexspence/pro-trump-turning-point-loses-star-activists. 12 October 2019. live.
  24. Harwood . Tom. tomhfh . 1369697378765307912 . Not evolved - consistent since 2016 as the tweet you quote shows! I was a bit foolish to not realise that the turning point UK stuff would be aligned to the US stuff which I oppose. Left the week it launched, only appeared in one video.. 14 February 2022.
  25. News: Tom Harwood. The Telegraph. 19 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190919123113/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/tom-harwood/. 19 September 2019. live.
  26. News: Finnis . Alex. Sherwin. Adam. Butterworth. Benjamin. GB News presenters: Full list of hosts signed up to Andrew Neil's TV channel so far. 6 May 2021 . i . 5 May 2021.
  27. Web site: Tom Harwood on Question Time: Brexit Party anthem protest 'dignified'. BBC News. 5 July 2019. 25 May 2021.
  28. Web site: Tobitt. Charlotte. 18 February 2021. GB News briefing: Channel will be 'free, fair and impartial' says news chief John McAndrew as political editor named . Press Gazette. 18 February 2021.
  29. News: Duffy . Elle . GB News to launch four political programmes . 10 August 2021 . 10 August 2021 . The Herald.
  30. 1631358695157161984. 2 March 2023. 6 March 2023. tomhfh. Pleased to say I’ve been appointed Deputy Political Editor of @GBNews.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tom Harwood".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.